Romania is the strongest nation in the Balkans. Hungary is disarmed, Yugoslavia has great internal turmoil, and Bulgaria poses no threat. Its other three neighbors are the Soviet Union who will soon purge most of their command, Czechoslovakia who has far greater concerns, and Poland who is friendly but will soon be invaded by Germany.

In spite of its start as the strongest nation in the Balkans, Romania is surrounded by threats from west and east alike. Both the Soviet Union and Germany will soon demand territories from Romania. Due to its vulnerable position, Romania is the most politically versitle nation in the game, its main choices are joining the Soviet Union, Germany, United Kingdom, becoming a major power through the "Balkan Dominance" path or forming the "Cordon Sanitaire" faction with Czechoslovakia and Poland.

Romania was a member of the victorious Entente when World War I ended in 1918. In exchange for promises of significant territorial expansion, Romania sided with France and the United Kingdom in 1916. With the war's end the pre-eminent powers (United States, France and United Kingdom) largely broke with their promises to lesser allies. However, Romania received a significant part of the promised territories using claims of historic rights and self-determination: Transylvania, Bukovina and two-thirds of Banat. Regions who despite being part of Austria-Hungary had a Romanian majority. Along with Bessarabia who previously declared independence from the Russian Empire in 1917 and union with Romania in 1918 would make Romania the country with the most territorial gains of World War I.

To preserve this territory, Romania would become part of the Little Entente with Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia in 1920 and form a separate alliance with Poland who refused to become part of the Little Entente due to territorial conflict with Czechoslovakia.

Romania received guarantees from France and the United Kingdom following Italy's invasion of Albania in April 1939. When Germany invaded Poland, they decided not to activate their alliance with Romania in order to use the neutral state on their borders to ship in Allied troops and supplies. However the Allies would not provide troops and supplies. Eventually the Polish army brigades and government evacuated through Romania to France and thence to United Kingdom.

Following the fall of France in June 1940 Romania had to come to terms with German supremacy on the continent. In July 1940 the Soviet Union demanded that Romania cede northern Bukovina and Bessarabia, Romania accepted. In August 1940 Germany demanded that Romania cede northern Transylvania to Hungary and in September southern Dobruja to Bulgaria, Romania accepted again. One third of Romania's 1939 area was amputated in 1940 and with it Romania's population shrank from 19.9 million to 13.3 million, half of the lost population being ethnically Romanian.

In retrun for the territorial losses, King Carol II gained Hitler's guarantee but it also caused the popularity of the government to plummet, further reinforcing the fascist and military factions who eventually staged a coup that turned Romania into fascist dictatorship under Marshal Ion Antonescu and forced King Carol II to abdicate. The new regime firmly set the country towards the Axis, joining the Axis in November 1940 and entering the war in June 1941 against the Soviet Union under the pretext of recovering northern Bukovina and Bessarabia. As compensation for the loss of northern Transylvania, Marshal Ion Antonescu requested Transnistria from Germany to which Hitler agreed.

The contribution of Romania was significant as it provided oil for Germany and over a million men for Operation Barbarossa. By 1944, discontent among the elite and the populace had grown which led to Prince Michael's coup against Marshal Ion Antonescu and Romania switching sides to the Allies. After that Romania continued fighting on the allied side in Hungary and Czechoslovakia. After the war they gained back northern Transylvania. In 1948 King Michael was forced to abdicate and Romania became a puppet of the Soviet Union.

This Branch allows Romania to join the Comintern, Axis or Allies or create the Cordon Sanitaire with Poland and Czechoslovakia. Unlike other focus trees, the separate ideologies in this tree is not mutually exclusive.

Industry Sub-branch

This branch allows Romania to develop its industry. To start this branch, one must start the "Preserve Greater Romania" or the "Balkans Dominance" Branch.

This section may contain outdated information that is inaccurate for the current version of the game. The last version it was verified as up to date for was 1.5.

Romania has most of the 1918 land techs and some early tank techs but is lacking in support. The country is also behind in most early naval and air techs. Like many smaller nations, Romania has three research slots.

This section may contain outdated information that is inaccurate for the current version of the game. The last version it was verified as up to date for was 1.5.

Romania has at 1936 start the national spirits:

King Carol II's Lifestyle

King Carol II is well known for his expensive tastes and his willingness to indulge the even more lavish tastes of his mistress. He has caused considerable scandals in the past, and will likely continue to do so unless he is replaced or shown the error of his ways.

Neutral Foreign Policy

Join faction tension limit: +100%

Send volunteers tension limit: +20%

Guarantee tension limit: +100%

AI Modifier: Threat receptivity: +1%

AI Modifier: Desire to be in or expand a faction: −100

Neutrality is sometimes viewed as a craven stance, but this nation trusts that when the dust settles, those who didn't take sides may be better off than those who did.

This section may contain outdated information that is inaccurate for the current version of the game. The last version it was verified as up to date for was 1.4.

At first the player should start with the Political effort focus to gain some political power and hire the Fascist Demagogue minister that will provide the player with daily fascism support. The next step is to develop the player's civilian industry and to get an ""extra research slot through the industrial effort focus. After that, get Armament effort I, II, III as that will increase the amount of the player's military factories, which is also a great idea at the beginning. The next focus that is recommended is the Militarism focus which increases the player's Recruitable Population up to 5%.

Meanwhile, after the fascists come to power, the player might want to send some volunteers to Nationalist Spain to help them win the Spanish civil war (getting Madrid and Barcelona right after that is the fastest way) and get a strong axis ally in future.
Also, one of the player's first steps, after the fascists come to power, is to justify a war goal against Bulgaria and grab it. Now it's also the time to join Axis.
During the Bulgarian war the player should start justifying a war goal against Greece as well and after Bulgaria is done - grab Greece (Greece is rather weak and has a nice deposit of the needed steel to produce some equipment for the player's army).

If everything is done correctly (if the player selected the historical AI focus), by mid 1939, close to world war II, they will have the Bulgarian and Greece territories, adequate equipment, access to the Mediterranean sea and the opportunity to go war with Yugoslavia or Turkey to expand much faster.

This section may contain outdated information that is inaccurate for the current version of the game. The last version it was verified as up to date for was 1.5.

Both in real history and in the game when controlled by AI, Romania ends up fighting in the war as Germany's eastern sidekick. But in this game, it is strong enough to be a world power in its own right, even without joining a faction. With Death and Dishonor, it is possible to go down this route as Non-Aligned, remaining a proper monarchy. Ideology is up to the player, and any pick will work with this guide, but it is assumed that the player will keep Romania non-aligned. Historical focuses are also assumed to be enabled.

Given the lack of early industry and large fielded manpower requirements for many focuses, Romania will be fielding an almost exclusively infantry-based army for the first four years of the game. The beginning template of 9 infantry divisions should not be changed. All cavalry divisions on the field at the start should be converted to infantry. 20 new divisions must be queued up for training, and they should be given high equipment priority.
The fielded divisions should be organized into two armies under an army group led by marshal Ion Antonescu. The whole army group should be placed at the Hungarian border and given an offensive line order.
When it comes to doctrine, whatever the player chooses should be fine, but Superior Firepower would be the best choice for the early and mid-game, and thus make the biggest difference.
As concerns air power, the two fighter squadrons should be combined into one. They will be used to support the coming invasions, but will not make much of an impact. The air force will be given proper attention later.
When it comes to naval forces, Romania's starting fleet is laughable. Thankfully, naval power is not needed until much later - the fleet can stay safely in port at Constanta for the next 5-6 years, during which submarines and destroyers should be built for it with the available shipyards.

Romania has few civilian factories to start with, and they'll be busy covering for the king's expenses most of the time, but the Soviet border must be fortified well. To that end, infrastructure must first be built to the maximum in Bessarabia, Bucovina and North Transylvania. Once that is done and the Fortify the Borders focus is complete, level 4 forts should be built all along the Soviet and Polish borders (more than that will dissuade the Soviets from attacking, which is not ideal). Anti-air emplacements should also be built in the Eastern Balkans and Northern Balkans regions, as Romania's air force will not be able to stand up to its Soviet counterpart when the war comes.
Military factories should be focused on manufacturing infantry equipment mainly, with one factory each devoted to artillery and support equipment. The order for light tanks should be canceled. Once the early conquests are almost finished, fighters should be built as well.

The antics of King Carol II will be a major headache for the player in this first phase, and must be dealt with quickly, second in priority only to conquering the Balkans. Political power should be saved for better laws, advisors and eliminating opposition parties, so the player should take the industry hit every time the king is caught red-handed. However, the king does get a very useful trait with the second focus that allows choosing laws and advisors from the top and bottom rows with only 115 political power.
The initial order of assigning laws and advisors should be:

Industrial Concern

Limited conscription

Free trade

Silent Workhorse

Backroom Backstabber

Military theorist

Captain of Industry

Infantry Expert

Army Offense Expert

Tank designer (PZinz)

Once these are assigned, the player should devote political power to increasing stability and war support, and removing all traces of democracy, fascism and communism from the country.

The first focus should be Institute Royal Dictatorship. This will put the king in charge and grant the player political power which should be used to pick the Industrial Concern. Following up, the next focus should be Revise the Constitution. Once that is finished, the king will have gotten his new trait and the player can change the conscription law. The Royal Foundation should be next, it will give the player another research slot. Balkans Dominance should then be picked, and it will open up the conquest/puppeting focuses. Whenever there is a choice, the player should go for annexation rather than puppeting, as the nations in the region have relatively low manpower and their industry would be far more helpful if under direct Romanian control. Still, at least one puppet is necessary for a proper defense against the Soviets.

By this point, the queued divisions should have been trained to a level where enough can be manually deployed to bring the fielded manpower up past 400K. The player should do so and then pick the Puppet Bulgaria focus. Almost always, the Bulgarians will give up their independence without a fight, but if they decide to fight, it should be easy to conquer them. The next focus should be Align Hungary. The Hungarians are much more likely to put up a fight, and it is quite rare that they submit willingly. They might offer a "friendship treaty", but the player must deny it if it happens. Regardless, most of the time the player will need to invade Hungary and annex them. Since it should only be early 1937 by this point, the Hungarian army will offer little resistance, even to the under-strength Romanian divisions. At this point, there will not be enough trained divisions to bring the fielded manpower up past 500K, so the next focus should be Fortify the Borders. Also, fort construction should now begin.

Now, the player should be able to deploy enough divisions to reach 500K fielded manpower, so the next focus should be Split Czechoslovakia. Hitler may or may not agree to the split, but it is likely that he will. Once that is done, Slovakia will become a Romanian puppet and Germany will annex Czechia. An unfortunate side effect is that Germany is thus strengthened one year early. The next focus should be Divide Yugoslavia. The Yugoslavs are likely to refuse partition, and should then be invaded and annexed. If they submit, Romania will gain five new puppets in Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro. Immediately afterwards, Secure Greece should be done, followed by an invasion and annexation of Greece.

There will not be enough manpower at this point to pick the Turkey focus, so the player should take the three Loyal Government focuses: His Majesty's Loyal Government, then Militarize the Sentinels, which will grant another 1% recruitable population, then All Parties Must End, which will put the king in his place and stop his negative events from firing again (it will also give him a +0.02 democracy boost modifier, so banning democracy prior to this to counter it is advisable). National Defense Industry should be the last focus taken while waiting for the new troops to train. Once all of these are finished, enough troops should be deployable to bring the fielded manpower to 750K and pick the Secure the Bosphorus focus.

Invading Turkey in November 1938 should be trickier than any other nation thus far. A puppet like Bulgaria should be called into the war. One army should be placed on the Thracian border, while another army should be placed in the Aegean islands off the west coast of Anatolia. With luck, the army invading from Thrace can cross the Bosphorus and invade Anatolia before they are trapped in a bottleneck. The two armies can then meet and push to Ankara. With a sweep to the south-eastern victory points of Adana and Gaziantep, Turkey will capitulate, and can be fully annexed. However, Romania should not take the two provinces bordering the Soviets, as an extra front might be too much for the army to handle. Instead, they should be given to a puppet like Bulgaria. With the entire Balkans conquered, there will be no more manpower requirement on focuses, so the basic infantry division can now be edited to replace two infantry regiments with artillery ones. Also, support companies should also be added while removing the existing support artillery company.

The final step in the first phase should be entering a war with the Soviet Union. This must be done as soon as possible as waiting too long might result in a German invasion of the USSR before Romania is itself ready to invade. To that end, the player should guarantee Finland as soon as world tension exceeds 50%. This will allow Romania to enter a defensive war against the USSR sooner than normal as they will usually start the Winter War in 1939. A faction should be created with Finland so that they don't sign a negotiated peace.

By the time war with the Soviet Union begins, Romania should have four armies. One army should be excluded from the army group and placed along the Anatolian coast, as the Soviets are not averse to naval invasions and the Romanian navy is no match for the Soviet Black Sea fleet. The other armies should be placed on the front-line in Moldova. Bulgaria or whichever puppet was granted the eastern Anatolian provinces will place troops on that border, but no puppets should initially be called into the war. As the war begins, it might take a while for the enemy to begin mounting attacks, but they eventually will. Finland will be forced to capitulate sooner or later, but that is no issue. The player will simply have to hold the line long enough for the Red Army to exhaust its reserves of manpower and equipment. The Soviets will heavily bomb Romanian industry, but that cannot be prevented. The Romanian air force will have to defend the Eastern Balkans region to prevent the forts there from being destroyed. As the Soviets suffer casualties in the millions attacking the Romanian borders, the Romanian army should be no worse for the wear. The player should also begin building armored divisions once the infantry divisions are sufficiently up to strength. Those armored divisions should consist of 6 medium armor brigades and 4 motorized (later mechanized) brigades.

Once the Soviets have suffered about 2 million casualties, it will be time to mount an offensive. Waiting any longer would result in an early German invasion and relegate Romania to the role of a junior partner in the war. No doubt the Germans are already planning their offensive at this point, so the player will need to focus all efforts on a push North, to the Baltic sea (or states, if they're still independent). If it all goes well, Germany will be cut off from Soviet lands, and they'll also be facing ~50 encircled Red Army divisions that they'll clean up for the player. At that point, it should be easy to push through the remaining Soviet troops and occupy the Russian heartlands. Japan will likely invade and take Vladivostok, forcing a Soviet capitulation. During the peace treaty, the player should first take all Soviet border and coastal provinces, Mongolia (if possible), then anything else. That will stop Germany and Japan from getting anything for themselves, and Romania will annex the entire USSR. Shortly after that, one of the best events in the game will fire.

At this point, Romania will have become an industrial and military great power. The newly acquired lands will mostly lie in ruins, but with the vast Soviet industry under the player's control, and taking the Construction Repair continuous focus, the new factories can be quickly put to work.

In the very likely event that the Allies have done poorly, Germany will have been sitting on an occupied Western/Central Europe for quite a long time, building up its army to a ridiculous size (~400 divisions). As the player's army by this point would only be around 200 divisions, Romania would have no hope of facing the Axis alone (Finland wouldn't help much either), offensively or even defensively. Germany alone would still have more manpower and industry than Romania, so waiting to build up a stronger army is out of the question. Invading small countries would bring Romania into a war with the Allies, so what is there to do?

The answer lies east. As of Waking the Tiger, Japan now forms its own faction rather than joining the Axis. They still have a focus wherein Japan, Germany and Italy all guarantee each other, but this doesn't apply to their puppets. Japan will have likely taken over China and started fighting the Allies, but their army will be equal or weaker to Romania's, so they make for a prime next target. The key to defeating Japan lies in occupying their Home Islands, which they do not defend nearly as well as they should. The player should start planning two naval invasions, each using a full army, one from Vladivostok and one from a newly built naval base a few provinces to the north, aiming towards Northern Honshu and Southern Hokkaido respectively (the second amphibious assault tech should be researched beforehand). The ramshackle Romanian Navy should be brought to Vladivostok as well. Every army not participating in the invasion should be preparing for an offensive against Japan's Chinese lands. Once everything is in place, war should be justified against Manchukuo.

When the war begins, the player should have the navy doing convoy escort on the Sea of Japan and trigger the invasions. The IJN will likely intercept one of the invasions, but the other one will be able to land. With one army, it should be easy enough to push south to Nagasaki, and once that city is taken, Japan will capitulate. During the peace treaty, the player should first annex Japan's puppets, as the Allies will prefer setting up democracies there to taking provinces directly. Then, the player should take Siam (if they joined the war) and Indochina for their resources, after which Chinese lands should be prioritized.

Once the war is over, Communist China can be released as a puppet, and work should immediately begin on building infrastructure in their lands to make them an integrated puppet. At that level, their colonial troops will use Chinese manpower exclusively. All templates that the player is currently using should be copied as Chinese colonial templates, and all deployed divisions turned into these templates. That will mean that Romanians no longer have to serve in the army, and the conscription laws can be brought down to limited conscription, removing any debuffs from those laws. Also, the Chinese will have around 40 million men ready for duty, so immediately, 150 Chinese infantry divisions should be queued for training.

At this point, Germany and Italy will have both used their "Influence Romania" focuses, which will boost fascism significantly, even if it was previously banned. Unfortunately, these national spirits are permanent, even if Italy and Germany are destroyed. Unless the player wants to go fascist, the Democratic Crusader should be hired, or the Iron Guard will start a civil war when their support reaches 70%.

Once the player has around 500 divisions in the field, and Germany has released Reichsprotekorates from its occupied countries, the time will have finally come to face the Axis, so war should be justified against Germany. Three full army groups should be placed on the German border. One army should defend the Syrian border (if Syria is held by Vichy France), another army should be in southern Anatolia ready to take the Dodecanese islands from the Italians, another army should be poised to take Zara and Albania, and yet another army defending the Italian border in Slovenia.

When the war begins, for the first few months the player should stay on the defensive. The relentless German attacks will cause them millions of casualties that they won't be able to recover and soon enough, most of their divisions will be under-strength. The three army groups on the German border should then go on the offensive, and Germany will soon capitulate. Two of the army groups should then continue into Vichy France while the other goes south to attack Italy. The armies fighting the Italians so far should also begin an offensive. Finally, Nationalist Spain will need to be invaded from France, and their capitulation will end the war.

It might be possible to actually take lands from France in the peace conference. If that is the case, the player should take all French colonial holdings before anything else. The Allies will likely set up some small democracies, but the player should have enough warscore to take the lion's share of provinces.

Romania is now a superpower with hegemony over Afro-Eurasia, and with the three aggressive factions out of the picture, the player can rightfully claim victory. However, Romania will definitely be capable of a full world conquest. With vast resources at their disposal, the player can now begin mechanizing their army and building a world class fleet. Of the remaining countries, the United States will put up a stiff resistance, but with the overwhelming number of Chinese thralls under Romanian command, Romanian dominance is assured. Once every other country has been conquered, China can finally be annexed.

And so, Carol II becomes king of the world. Now, at last, he has an excuse for all his partying!